Pygmalion

Overview

Synopsis

Pygmalion, perhaps Shaw's best-loved play, tells of Professor Henry Higgins' attempts to transform the poor, Cockney flowergirl, Eliza Doolittle, into a lady by changing her speech. Higgins hears her speaking one night as she sells flowers, and he says that, within three months, he can change her speech so dramatically that she will be accepted in the highest society. The next morning, she shows up at his door, offering to pay for lessons because she wants to run her own flower shop. The lessons go remarkably well, and indeed Eliza does pass for a duchess at a ball. What Higgins has not considered is what will happen to her then. He has taught her to act like a lady, but she wants love and companionship, something he is not able to give.